CVE-2026-97603

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's idpf network driver. This flaw allows a local user with administrative privileges to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) through a kernel crash. The issue occurs because dynamic interrupt moderation (DIM) background tasks are not disabled before releasing queue vector memory during network interface reset or shutdown operations. Consequently, the delayed background worker can access already-freed memory, triggering a use-after-free condition.

A moderate-severity use-after-free flaw was found in the Linux kernel idpf (Intel Infrastructure Data Path Function) network driver. The driver never disables or drains the Tx/Rx dynamic interrupt moderation (DIM) work items before freeing the queue vector (q_vector) memory they are embedded in during network interface stop, reset, or vport teardown. A local user with administrative privileges (CAP_NET_ADMIN) can trigger interface teardown while DIM work is being queued under network load, causing the DIM worker to run on already-freed memory and dereference stale MMIO pointers, resulting in a kernel crash and denial of service. Red Hat rated this flaw Moderate severity (CVSS 3.1 base score 5.5, AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H); the impact is limited to system availability. The vulnerable code was introduced into Red Hat Enterprise Linux via the idpf TX splitq NAPI poll support and is present in RHEL 8.10, RHEL 9.4 and later RHEL 9 streams, RHEL 10 (kernel and kernel-rt), Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2, and OpenShift Container Platform RHEL CoreOS 9 based streams from 4.16 onward. RHEL 6, RHEL 7, and the RHEL 8.4, 8.6, 8.8, and 9.2 update streams do not contain the vulnerable code and are not affected. Fixes for the affected streams are currently deferred to a future release; the residual risk is limited because triggering the flaw requires local administrative access and winning a race condition, and the consequence is denial of service with no demonstrated confidentiality or integrity impact.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.